CHINA TO OUTLAW BARBARIC PRACTICE OF EATING CATS AND DOGS

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The poor dogs bark and whine behind high chain-link fences, and tiny cages, some of them gnawing the wire so hard they bleed at the mouths while cats packed into crowded cages cower in fear if anyone approaches.

This isn’t a poorly run pet store I’m talking about here — it’s a meat market in Guangzhou, a city in southern China where eating cats and dogs is common practice.

At the Han River Dog Meat Restaurant in central Guangzhou, diners can choose from a long list of menu items, including dog soup, dog steak, dog with tofu and more. In the kitchen, the chef chops up meat for dog hot pot, one of the more popular dishes. Most customers like it spicy.

“Dog meat is good for your health and metabolism,” explains Li, the hostess who declined to give her first name. “In the summer it helps you sweat.”

Should cat and dog meat be banned? Well if you ask me my answer would be a resounding “YES!” The only other country that I can think of that still practices medieval barbarism when it comes to harvesting gentle and intelligent creatures is Japan. The Japs, like the Chinese, have been killing and killing for years, wiping these gentle souls off the planet for their own pleasures. We, of course do the same, but at least we don’t eat dolphins, cats, dogs, or whales.

Anyway the local restaurants like the one mentioned above may have to find a new specialty. The Chinese government is considering legislation that would make eating cats and dogs illegal.

Professor Chang Jiwen of the Chinese Academy of the Social Sciences is one of the law’s top campaigners. “Cats and dogs are loyal friends to humans,” he said. “A ban on eating them would show China has reached a new level of civilization.”

Eating dog meat is a long-standing culinary tradition not just in China, but also Korea. Cat meat can be found on the menu in China, Vietnam and even parts of South America.

The Chinese government has signaled a willingness to take the meat off the market. To avoid upsetting international visitors during the Beijing Olympics, officials ordered dog meat off the menus at local markets. Officials in Guangzhou have warned vendors to stop selling it ahead of the Asian Games which will be held there later this year.

The ban on eating dog and cat meat is part of a larger proposal to toughen laws on animal welfare. Individual violators could face up to 15 days in prison and a small fine. Businesses found guilty of selling the meat risk fines up to 500,000 yuan ($73,500.)

The legislation is gaining support from China’s growing number of pet owners. With living standards rising and disposable income growing, more Guangzhou residents are investing in house pets.

“I would never eat dog meat,” said Louisa Yong, as she clutches her pet cocker spaniel. “It’s so cruel!”

Meat vendors have a different view.

“The dogs you raise at home, you shouldn’t eat,” said Pan, a butcher who also declined to give his first name. “The kind raised for eating, we can eat those.”

Many of the dogs and cats sold for meat are specially raised on farms. But Chang said there is always a chance they’re someone’s lost or stolen pet.

In anticipation of the new ban, dog and cat meat has become more difficult to find, though some vendors say they will keep selling it as long as they can.

“The legislation will definitely affect our restaurant,” said Li. “We’ll just wait to see the result.”

Unfortunately for these poor creatures it seems restaurants won’t necessarily need to change their menus anytime soon. According to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the law prohibiting cat and dog meat could take as long as a decade to pass. Until then it’s a la carte, from the cage into the kitchen.

That makes me deeply, deeply sad, as I look at my loyal guys, laying at my feet, and dreaming peaceful dreams. I wonder if they know how lucky they are not to be Chinese.

About Post Author

Professor Mike

Professor Mike is a left-leaning, dog loving, political junkie. He has written dozens of articles for Substack, Medium, Simily, and Tribel. Professor Mike has been published at Smerconish.com, among others. He is a strong proponent of the environment, and a passionate protector of animals. In addition he is a fierce anti-Trumper. Take a moment and share his work.
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S. Morabito
4 years ago

That should be stopped now. How awlful. The poor animals. Ut should be reverse the Chinese are the one tharbstarted this not the animals. They should be gone not the animals.

Realist
11 years ago

Why are we imposing our beliefs and customs on them? Are we attempting to create a food shortage for them or what is the goal here? People eat meat and though you may not eat something, someone else may. I would rather a starving child get a meal than for some dog, cat, or similar animal to walk past that starving child licking itself clean with a full belly of some other animal.

How about we outlaw animals eating other animals? They die much harsher deaths slowely being eating by some other wild animal. Actually, people should be banned from owning pets. Feral pets are responsible for more damage to natural species than man up until the point man uses weapons of mass destruction.

Look at all the pointless breeds that couldn’t possibly exist in the wild. Man bastardizes nature and then denies himself of natural instinct. Darwinism at work but self inflicted.

feline256
12 years ago

Huh, eating dogs and cats is called barbaric, yet not the eating of every other creature factory-farmed in much larger numbers here in the states, in just as bad conditions.

Ah, but I forget to include the all-important cuteness factor

14 years ago

For that, amongst other things, a worryingly large percentage of Chinese are scum. Not being racist and I know the old ‘different culture’ argument but I don’t give a toss. You eat cat or dog you’re scum. End of.

Speaking of which, The French! Very nice place France except it’s full of French. Horse meat??? Disgraceful behaviour.

Far as the French go I’ve even considered starting a ‘Save Our Snails’ campaign aka ‘Sauvez Nos Escargots’ just so the French understand….which may lead onto a ‘Save Our Frogs’ aka ‘Sauvez Nos Grenouilles’…..Frogs meaning real frogs of course rather than the French themselves…no need to save any of them…;-)

14 years ago

Fish are at least a lot less aware than pigs or dogs or even cattle. Self-awareness seems to be based in the neo-cortex, a part of the brain that exists only in mammals. Personally I’m less troubled by harming fish or birds than mammals, though it still bothers me.

There are a number of vegetarian substitutes for meat available, mostly based on soy. People vary widely on how satisfactory they find them. You might want to try a few and see if they’re acceptable.

It’s rather ironic that the Chinese, who were the first to domesticate soybeans (to compensate for the low protein content of rice), developed such a cruel habit as eating dogs.

Believe it or not, chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas are sometimes eaten in Africa (a luxury food for the wealthy, not a common habit). Those animals are so close to humans that they even have the same blood types (A, B, O, etc.). Biochemically it’s no different from cannibalism.

Reply to  Infidel753
14 years ago

INFIDEL – I was vegetarian from 1982-1985 (not Vegan) and remember feeling on top of the world, but when I moved to the States in 1985, meat was everywhere “Beef It’s What’s For Dinner” and “Beef, Real Food For Real People” “Where’s The Beef” and I slipped back into meathood. In the past few years we are slowly slipping quietly back into Fruit and Veggieland. It is a process.

14 years ago

Republicans call anyone who is concerned about the environment a “tree hugger” so what’s next a “pig hugger?” Seriously, it is a conundrum, I have gone from several times a week eating meat, to several times a month, but my fish intake has gone up, another living creature. What to do?

14 years ago

Please don’t forget that not everybody in those countries is involved in such practices. Pigs are at least as intelligent as dogs, and they are farmed in the United States under pretty unpleasant conditions. Most Americans aren’t involved in those practices and don’t even know about them. The same is likely true in China, Korea, and Japan.

I hardly ever eat meat at all any more, and never from other mammals. I can’t srtomach it any more, knowing what I know.

14 years ago

A decade? Yeesh, and we thought Congress was slow.

The only other coun­try that I can think of that still prac­tices medieval bar­barism when it comes to har­vest­ing gen­tle and intel­li­gent crea­tures is Japan.

As the article notes, this is also true of Korea. I have read that dogs meant for eating in Korea are sometimes de-haired by blowtorch while still alive, because the meat is supposed to taste better when saturated with adrenalin.

Khalesi Heart
Reply to  Infidel753
10 years ago

That is freaking disgusting…. It taste better so they torture an animal if thats what they eat then thats there problem but im against torture before killing it. Any person that is capable of doing that deserves the same thing done to them so they know what that animal went through before it died!!! I hope the end of this world comes soon so that all suffering and injustices comes to an end …..and then we will all be judged !

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